Suicide prevention policy

Warning: This briefing discusses suicide and self-harm, which some readers may find distressing.

Suicide rates in the UK

In 2023, England had the lowest rate of suicide in Great Britain. The age-standardised mortality rates across Great Britain in 2023 were:

• 11.2 deaths per 100,000 people in England
• 14.0 deaths per 100,000 people in Wales
• 14.6 deaths per 100,000 people in Scotland

The latest available data for Northern Ireland is for 2022, when there were:

• 12.3 deaths per 100,000 people in Northern Ireland

Long-term trends in suicide have varied in different parts of the UK:

• The suicide rate in England declined between 1981 and 2023. Most of this fall occurred before 2000. In recent years, suicide rates have started to increase again and in 2023 they reached their highest level since 1999.
  • The NHS five year forward view for mental health (2016) included a commitment to reduce the rate of suicides in England by 10% by 2020 compared to 2015 levels. The NHS Long Term plan (2019) suggested this target would be met but there was no statistically significant change in the rate of suicides in England during this period, and since then rates have increased.
• In Wales, suicide rates over time had been following a general downward trend, although rates have increased since 2010.
• The suicide rate in Scotland has been consistently higher than in any other part of the UK. Since 2002, the rate of suicide has generally decreased, although there has been a slight increase in recent years.
• There has been little change in the rate of suicide in Northern Ireland since 2015. Figures before this are not comparable.

Suicide prevention strategies in the UK

England

The Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto said Labour would “deliver a renewed drive to tackle the biggest killers”, including suicide.  It also said Labour would recruit an additional 8,500 mental health staff, who would be specially trained to support people at risk of suicide.

In September 2023, the Conservative government published a five-year cross-sector strategy for suicide prevention in England, alongside an action plan with intended timelines for delivery.

The three aims of the strategy were to:

• reduce the suicide rate over the next five years with initial reductions within half this time or sooner
• improve support for people who have self-harmed
• improve support for people bereaved by suicide.

In November 2023, the government launched a near to real-time suspected suicide surveillance system. The system brings together local data on suspected deaths by suicide and acts as an early warning system for indications of change in suicides to inform prevention. Suspected deaths by suicides are deaths that have not been confirmed as suicides by a coroner.

In the 2023 Spring Budget, the government announced a £10 million grant fund for suicide prevention voluntary, community and social enterprise  organisations across 2023 to 2025.

In 2019, the government said it would invest £57 million in suicide prevention as set out in NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan for 2019/20 to 2023/24. This included plans for investment in all areas of the country by 2023/24 to support local suicide prevention and establish suicide bereavement support services.

Since 2019, all Local Authorities in England have suicide prevention plans in place. Local areas can use the government’s suicide prevention profiling tool to develop an understanding of suicide at a local level to inform prevention strategies.

Scotland

The current strategy in Scotland, Creating hope together: Suicide prevention strategy 2022 to 2032, was published in 2022. A Suicide prevention action plan 2022 to 2025 was published alongside.

In July 2024, the Scottish Government published a delivery plan for year two of the strategy 2024 to 2026.

Wales

The latest strategy in Wales, Talk to me 2: Suicide and self harm prevention strategy for Wales 2015-2022, was published in 2015. A review of the strategy was published in 2023.

In February 2024, the Welsh Government published a draft suicide and self-harm prevention strategy for 2024 to 2034 for consultation. The consultation period ended in June 2024. At the time of writing the outcome has not been published.

Northern Ireland

The current strategy in Northern Ireland, Protect life 2: Strategy for preventing suicide and self harm in Northern Ireland 2019-2024, was published in 2019. It includes an aim to reduce the suicide rate in Northern Ireland by 10% by 2024. In September 2023, it was announced the strategy has been extended to the end of 2027.

Suicide prevention and mental health

Approximately 26% of all people who die by suicide in the UK were in contact with mental health services within 12 months of their death. Of these people, nearly two thirds (63%) had a history of self-harm, nearly half (47%) had a history of alcohol misuse and over a third (38%) had a history of drug misuse.

Most aspects of health policy are devolved across the UK. The following policy information relates to England.

The 2023 suicide prevention strategy includes targeted actions to support people who have self-harmed, people who are in contact with mental health services, autistic people and pregnant women and new mothers. It also highlights severe physical health conditions as a risk factor for suicide and sets out actions to improve signposting and suicide prevention support in primary care.

Mental health crisis care

The 2019 NHS Long term plan and subsequent Mental health implementation plan committed to achieving 100% coverage of crisis care via NHS 111 by 2023/24. In August 2024, NHS England confirmed that all individuals in England have access to 24/7, age-appropriate crisis care via the NHS 111 #MH option. However, it said further work is needed to ensure children can access a comprehensive crisis service across the country.

In 2021 the government announced £150 million of funding for crisis mental health facilities and patient safety in mental health units. In January 2023, it was announced £7 million of the funding would be allocated to new mental health ambulances. £143 million would go towards 150 new projects, including schemes providing alternatives to A&E.

Safety in mental health inpatient care

The NHS Patient Safety Strategy in 2021 to include detailed goals for the reduction of self-harm and suicide in inpatient mental health settings. Actions were delivered through NHS England’s Mental Health Safety Improvement Programme.

In April 2024, NHS England published Culture of care standards for mental health inpatient services, which noted staff should not use risk assessment tools and scales to assess harm to self and should never tell people that they have capacity to take their own life.

Patients discharged from acute inpatient settings should be followed up in the community within 72 hours. In January 2024, the DHSC and NHSE published statutory guidance on discharge from mental health inpatient settings.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch is undertaking a review of mental health inpatient services. This includes investigating how service providers learn from deaths and translate learning into improvement. The review is expected to conclude by the end of 2024.